IN QUOTES | Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's Rustenburg roadshow address

Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane held a roadshow in Tlokweng, Rustenburg, on Friday. She interacted with the community regarding challenges it faces with government entities, such as the Moses Kotane Municipality and the SAPS.

Mkhwebane told the community about her office's role in ensuring those in leadership positions are held to account.

Here's what she said in five quotes:

The role of the office of the PP

“The average person does not have the money to take the state to court when wronged by bureaucracy. The state, on the other hand, has all the money and time in the world to fight it out with anyone in court. This is why our services come free of charge. Unlike the courts, you need not understand the law when you come to us, all you need is the knowledge that you have been wronged or robbed of what you are entitled to.”

Leadership must do its job 

“We went to see a child-headed Molokwane family in Gobopane village in Lehurutshe after the local community reached out to us to help the impoverished household with a roof over their heads and some social security needs. We met with premier Job Mokgoro, where we got to bring to their attention the plight of the Molokwanes and managed to secure undertakings from the MECs of social development and human settlements to intervene.”

Scourge of gender-based violence

“Here in the North West, 19-year old Gomolemo Legae was stabbed, doused in petrol and burnt alive. We took time to visit the grief-stricken family yesterday in Seweding village in Mahikeng. The hardest thing was trying to lift their spirits when their loved one's [life] had been cut short in such a barbaric manner.”

More needs to be done

“Are the arrests, charging, trial, conviction and imposition of hefty sentences on the perpetrators helping to curb the scourge? Do they convey a message that says this can never be tolerated? Do campaigns such as 16 days of activism really work?”

We deliver to the people

“There was a caseload of more 800 investigations between the [Mahikeng, Klerksdorp and Rustenburg] offices in the previous financial year. This year, the caseload has risen to more than a thousand. About 823 of those have already been finalised, leaving us with a total of 218 that are still pending.”